1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothing dryer, and, more particularly, to an exhaust pipe fixing structure of the clothing dryer.
2. Description of Related Art
A clothing dryer is a machine that supplies hot air to a drying tub, in which wet clothing is places, to evaporate moisture contained in the clothing, thereby drying the clothing. A conventional clothing dryer includes: a housing forming an external appearance of the clothing dryer; a drying tub rotatably mounted in the housing; an inlet duct to introduce hot air to the drying tub, an outlet duct to discharge hot air from the drying tub, a blowing fan to generate a blowing force necessary to introduce and discharge hot air; an exhaust pipe to discharge air blown from the blowing fan out of the clothing dryer; and a driving motor to drive the blowing fan and the drying tub.
In such a clothing dryer, the front end of the exhaust pipe is supportably disposed in a locating part formed at the exit of a fan casing of the blowing fan, the middle part of the exhaust pipe is supported by a fixing bracket attached to the bottom of the housing, and the rear end of the exhaust pipe is supported by a rear cover while being inserted through an opening formed at the rear surface of the housing.
The fixing bracket, which supports the middle part of the exhaust pipe, has one end attached to the outer circumference of the exhaust pipe by a rivet of a screw and the other end attached to the bottom of the housing by a screw. Consequently, it is necessary that an additional fixing member be used to attach the fixing bracket to the bottom of the housing when the exhaust pipe is to be assembled. Also, it is necessary that the fixing member attached to the fixing bracket be removed when the exhaust pipe is to be disassembled, which complicates the disassembling operation of the exhaust pipe.